Google’s $3.1bn acquisition of online ad firm DoubleClick is set to be investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission. The purchase of DoubleClick last month, is intended to give enhance Google’s online ad capabilities, but it has been criticised amid concerns over both privacy and competition. Consumer groups are concerned that the vast amount of information Google will hold about the world’s internet users, and have complained about the lack…
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Yesterday, we attended a private demo of Yahoo!'s new Panama PPC platform. Hosted by Richard Firminger, Regional Sales Director Northern Europe for Yahoo! Search Marketing, the session did not actually involve a demo of the live system, but provided a useful insight of the new PPC system. The new platform has been in development for some time and has been eagerly anticipated by PPC advertisers. The current platform used by…
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The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released its 2006 Internet Advertising Revenue Report, looking at online advertising spend in the US. The report shows that online ad spend rose by 35% compared with 2005, reaching a total figure of $16.9bn (£8.5bn). Online ad revenues for the last quarter of 2006 set a new record, at $4.8bn. For the third year running, online ad spend figures have hit record levels. Randall…
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Google has announced that it is moving towards a universal search model, which will offer the search engine’s users a more integrated method of finding the information they want. In the first step, Google has changed its home page, and will begin to include content from Google News, Images, Video, Books and Maps into its search results, depending on the type of query entered. For instance, a search for a…
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Google Checkout launched in the UK last month, and Heather Hopkins has some figures on the take-up for the service so far, as well as figures for the US version, which launched some months previously. US take-up of Google Checkout: Google Checkout ranked 11th in market share of US internet visits in the Business and Finance category last month. By comparison, its big rival Paypal received 67 times Google Checkout’s…
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Google has given its analytics tool a major redesign, the first since its launch 18 months ago. The new version was unveiled at the Emetrics Summit in San Francisco yesterday. The new version will replace the current interface on Google Analytics accounts over the next few weeks. Users will be able to use either the old or new version for at least 30 days. Though the actual website data collected…
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Reports in the Wall Street Journal and New York Post are suggesting that Microsoft and Yahoo are talking about a possible merger, in an effort to compete more effectively with Google. If the reports are to be believed, Microsoft seems to be the driving force behind the move, spurred on by losing out to Google in the bidding for online ad firm DoubleClick. The New York Post says that Microsoft…
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